A limited number of occurrences in the history of live sports broadcasts rival the modern quality of visual imagery and multiple angles of a precisely delivered facial blow captured on countless high definition cameras and devices and delivered almost instantaneously to a world of social networking users. While the aptly named Rougned Odor of the Texas Rangers earned an 8 game suspension from the front office of Major League Baseball for a humbling massage of Toronto Blue Jay’s slugger Jose Bautista’s jaw, how does the infielder’s emulation of professional boxing compare to other memorable facilitators of fisticuffs on the baseball diamond? The Experts at Uproxx rank the best of the worst punches in history at the Major League Level.
From Uproxx:
“The phrase “bench clearing brawl” is a bit of a misnomer in that most baseball skirmishes consist of little more than a few shoves and a collection of players standing around staring at each other. But occasionally the sports gods confuse baseball with hockey and we all get to see a few hard punches. The one doled out by Texas Rangers infielder Rougned Odor to Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista on Sunday afternoon is a fine example, but it’s far from baseball’s most punishing blow. Here now is a ranking of the hardest hits in basebrawl history.
Note: we’re looking at the best punches, which means Juan Marichal’s frightening bat assault on Johnny Roseboro, Izzy Alcantara’s kick, and other prodigious blows, didn’t make the cut.
8. Martin Maldonado vs. Travis Snider